10:15 pm—Call me when you get out. She’s in bed.
She’s going to be okay? Meaning she hadn’t been when Celeste had sent those. And she hadn’t been okay enough to call or text him herself. He immediately pulled up Celeste’s phone number and hit Dial. Two rings vibrated in his ear before the line clicked.
“Hey, Liam,” Celeste said, the light playful tone he’d come to associate with her the last couple of days was gone.
“How is she?”
“Better, she drank some tea to try and settle her stomach and then took a shower.”
“Settle her stomach? Did she get sick?”
“She had a bit of a panic attack.”
“Panic attack?” He was pretty sure he was about to have one.
“Liam,” Celeste said his name calmly. “Harper is fine.”
“And Sofia? She’s okay? They don’t need to go to the hospital or anything?”
“No, Liam. Your daughter is fine, too. If I’d thought that I needed to take them to the hospital, I would’ve.”
“Okay.” He closed his eyes, his hand gripping the chair in front of him as he bowed his head. He knew Celeste was a doctor, one of the best in her field, but he wouldn’t believe Harper was fine until he saw her with his own two eyes.
“Why don’t you head over here?” She managed to read his mind through the phone. “You two can stay the night. She needs to rest, so waking her up isn’t the best option.”
“I’m leaving now.” Liam looked around the room, grabbing his bag on the floor and shoving his stuff inside it. “I’ll be there in ten.”
“See you then.” But before the line disconnected she added, “They are both going to be fine, Liam. Breathe and don’t drive like a mad man to get here.”
Yeah, that was going to be easier said than done.
When he walked out of the room there were still a number of people milling around. Normally he’d pop out and do a little meet-and-greet, but there was no way in hell that would be happening tonight.
He needed to get to Harper.
But before he could make it to the back door Kiki was blocking his path.
“I don’t have the time or patience for you tonight.” He shook his head as he sidestepped her.
“I met your girlfriend…or is she your baby mama?”
He stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned around. “What?”
“She seemed to be having a bit of a breakdown. Poor thing, and in her condition, too.” She shook her head pityingly. “Threw up all over the side of the building.”
“Kiki, I’m going to tell you this once.” He took a deep breath, the fact that she’d been anywhere near Harper was making it difficult for him to not lose his shit. “Stay the fuck away from her.”
“Don’t worry, Liam.” She tilted her head to the side as her eyes narrowed on him, a mean smile on her mouth. “I’ve gotten everything that I need.”
He said nothing as he turned around and started heading for the back door again. He was done with this conversation. Whatever else she had to say wasn’t important.
Getting to Harper was all that mattered, getting to her and finding out exactly what had happened.
* * *
During the entire car ride Harper had sobbed uncontrollably, her head in Celeste’s lap. When they’d gotten to the house they’d sat in the car—parked in the driveway with the air conditioner running—for a good ten minutes before Harper had calmed down enough to get out. At that point, all she’d wanted to do was take off the clothes that smelled like vomit. That and to wash off the last hour of panic and sweat that had settled on her skin.
The hot shower had been helpful, and the tea had calmed her stomach…but nothing was helping her heart. The ache at the center hadn’t been dulled in the slightest. And try as she might she couldn’t shut her brain off long enough to fall asleep.
She’d been lying in the bed in her aunt’s guest room for what felt like forever, staring at the wall and doing everything in her power to not start crying again. She was also fighting with the need to have Liam in bed with her while at the same time wanting space to breathe.
How was she going to do this? How was she going to deal with this kind of life and not lose her damn mind every single time something like this happened? It was too much…way too much for anyone to deal with in normal circumstances, but these weren’t normal circumstances.
It had been less than four months since she and Liam had met each other. Two and a half since they’d found each other in Jacksonville. It was more than a little terrifying when she looked at it that way, especially as she’d only had a handful of weeks with him in between all of that.
Barely any time at all, and was it enough to really know each other?
Had they caught up in such a short amount of time? Was that possible? She wasn’t sure. She did know that she was in love with him…and that he loved her. But did that mean they were ready for all that was going to follow?
Sofia would be here in five months. Five. Months. It was all happening too fast. She just wanted more time to figure it all out. Time she didn’t have.
Lights lit up the window behind the closed blinds as a car pulled into the driveway.
Liam.
The engine turned off and a car door shut a moment later. She counted the seconds, breathing with them and finding a steady rhythm as the front door opened and closed…and then two minutes of whispered murmuring between Liam and Celeste.
The bedroom door opened four minutes and twenty-nine seconds from when his truck had pulled into the driveway. He moved around the room slowly, trying not to make too many sounds.
There was a shuffling as he pulled off his shirt, and then his boots hit the wooden floor with two barely audible thuds as he set them down one at a time. His belt buckle rattled only slightly before the snick of his zipper filled the space.
And then he was pulling the sheet and blanket back, climbing in behind her and pressing his body to hers. His mouth brushed her neck as he buried his nose in her hair and inhaled. The oversized T-shirt she was wearing was pushed up as his hand moved under it, his palm on her belly.
“My girls,” he whispered, his breath washing out across her skin.
At some point Harper had stopped counting her breaths and started counting the steady taps of her tears hitting the pillow.
Chapter Twenty-Two I Don’t Think I Believe Everything You’re Trying to Say to Me
It was the tiny popping against Liam’s palm the next morning that woke him up. Sofia was kicking.
Harper shifted against him and stretched, her hand moving to the space next to his.
“Morning,” he whispered in her ear.
“Morning.” Her voice was rough, way more than it should be from just waking up. No, this was ravaged from her getting sick and hours of crying, most of that while he’d been lying right there next to her.
It made every part of him hurt. He’d known she’d been awake when he crawled in bed next to her. But she hadn’t rolled over seeking his comfort, hadn’t wanted him to know she was still up. It had taken her hours to finally fall sleep, and only then had Liam been able to do the same.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, trying his damnedest to keep his voice even.
“Okay,” she said with absolutely no conviction.
He kissed her shoulder before he shifted, moving so he could gently pull her to her back. He needed to see her face, and when he did it was that much more painful. Her eyes were puffy and filled with a sadness that he hadn’t seen since that morning in Jacksonville…before he told her he still wanted her.
“Honey, what happened?”
“I just…I just got a little overwhelmed at the concert. And I think whatever I ate at dinner didn’t sit well…it all just kind of hit me at once.”
“That’s it?” he asked. “That’s all that happened?”
“Yeah.” She nodded, looking him straight in the eyes. Lying to him as she looked him straight in the eyes.